Fire-escape



i by declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, form- 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

f p AARON WALKER, or KOKOMO, INDIANA.

Fl RE- ESCAPE.

sPEcI'rrcATroN forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,517, dated September 4, 188:3.

' Application filedApril2, 183. (Nomodeh) To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AARON- WALKER, of Kokomo, in the county of Howard and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fire-Escapes; andI do here ing part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention applied to a building, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the same.

fire-escapes, designed to provide an efficient means for enabling the occupants to descend in safety from the upper stories of a burning building. g

It consists in the peculiar arrangementof a platform suspended by ropes and pulleys, and provided with means for guiding it in its as- I l i cent and descent, which arrangement of parts is designedto be an attachment to the building, which may take the place of and be used as a veranda orbalconyat any of the windows or doors, and at the same time be so movable as to be ever ready as a fire-escape, as will be fully described hereinafter. t

Inthe drawings, A represents the wall of a building, to which are applied vertical guardstrips S. These guard-strips are to prevent the platform from rubbing against the wall of the building. l i

B is the platform, which is made with a guard-rail, a, around three of its sides to keep persons from falling off, which guard-rail has a gate in it to let persons off when the ground is reached without the necessity for clambering over the rail. On the side of the platform next to the building is a sheet-metal fire-shield, b, to prevent the flames which may be bursting out of a window from scorchingthe persons on the platform. This shield also has a gate init, to permit the persons to readily pass out upon the platform from the window. The weight of the platform is sustained by a rope,

0, whose opposite ends are fastened to pulleys of drums D D, of different diameters, fixed upon a shaft carried in bearings permanently attached to the upper part of the building. The

bight or middle bend of this rope passes around a grooved pulley, E, fastened to the platform, which pulley is provided with a crank-handle platform and also by the ground-ropes.

rope are wound in reverse direction upon opposite sides of the two pulleys .or drums D D, of different diameters, so as to constitute aspecies of difierential Windlass. The platform, as

, for turning. The opposite branches of this supportedupon this rope, remains stationary or in balance at any altitude 5 but when the pulley on the platform is rotated the said platform is raised or lowered by reason of the factthat the rope at one end is wound or unwound more rapidly than it is at the other. The pulley E on the platform provides means whereby per- My invention relates to an improvement in sons on the platform may raise or lower themselves at will. To permit the platform to be operated by persons from the ground, ropes F F are attached to the platform on each side, and are thenpassed overindependent stationary pulleys G G at the top of the building, and thence descend to the ground. By pulling on these ropes persons upon the ground may raise 'theplatform. To lower it from the ground a separate 1 is wound about one of the pulleys (the larger preferably) of the differential Windlass, so as to unwind the larger drum or pulley. This rope, likethe ropesF, extends I to the ground. For heavy loads the platform may be operated both from the vpulley on the Instead of turning the pulley on the platform by its crank, it is. obvious that the same result could be attained by pulling upon the suspending rope on either side of the central or supporting pulley.

I I are rods running vertically and attached to the side of the building, on which rods the platform is guided in its vertical travel by guide-tubes c and braces d, with friction-rollers at, both of which tubes and braces are at tached to the platform, and which, in conjunction with the rods I, prevent the platform from oareening or swaying. If desired, additional braces may be placed above the platform, connecting the latterto the guide-rods,

in a manner corresponding to those below it,

at d.

of either wood or iron, or any material, or combination of materials, and the ropes may be eitherof cotton, hemp, or wire. I may also In constructing my invention I may make it IOU more, of makingit a opermanent ,fixtureto a l 2. The combination, with the platform and building, the guards S and rods I may be made detachable therefrom and adapted to be placed beside a building.

To secure additional power in operating the fire-escape, blocks and pulleys may be attached to the end ropes.

The platform may extend past only one or several windows of the building.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new is- 1. AA fire-escape consisting of a differential,

Windlass or two pulleys of different diameters on the same shaft, a rope wound reversely thereon at its opposite ends, and a platform with a pulley suspended in-the bight or loop of the rope, all combined substantially as shown and dcscribed.

its suspending pulley-rope and differential windlass, of the end ropes, F F, passing over stationary pulleys at the top of the building, and the independent rope H, wound upon the differential Windlass, both extending to the ground, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, with the suspended fire-escape platform, of the fire-screen arranged on the side next to the building and provided with a door, as and for the purpose described.

AARON WALKER.

Witnesses:

A. B. WALKER, N. B. SMITH. 

